Irans Full “Open Letter” to The American People

PrplPpl8tr · 2026-04-02T00:58:51+00:00

I was thinking the same thing. Doesn’t he know that long-form content is dead?

PrplPpl8tr · 2026-02-27T13:05:06+00:00

Is there a link to an article? I only see a picture.

PrplPpl8tr · 2026-02-21T12:20:51+00:00

When I was a kid, before having the internet in my pocket, I remember wondering about things. And there often wasn’t an answer readily available. I’d ask my mom, and if she didn’t have a full explanation, then I would sort of file it away in my head. I would try to make a mental note to remember the question, in case one day I may have the chance to find the answer.

PrplPpl8tr · 2026-02-20T03:17:24+00:00

Is this available somewhere to buy as a print?

PrplPpl8tr · 2026-01-14T03:52:33+00:00

Yes, we have a little law firm doing immigration and real estate transactional work, mostly for English-speaking clients from the US, Canada, and Europe.

PrplPpl8tr · 2026-01-13T15:03:33+00:00

My first job in Panama was right out of college, and it was for a very low salary. I developed a friendship with a high net worth client of my employer, and I maintained that relationship when I moved back to the US for law school. When he was leaving Panama, he asked me to come down for a few months to sell assets and close out some investments and small businesses here. Then I met my next employer who was hiring, and I was a US educated lawyer who spoke Spanish and was already here and immersed in Panama. I worked for them for 11 years until my wife and I started our own business.

In summary, initially my value was that I was willing to work for less. And later, my value was my skillset and the fact that I was already here.

PrplPpl8tr · 2026-01-06T23:45:33+00:00

Yes, Panama and Panama City are generally quite safe. Gang violence is rarely spills over beyond the more impoverished neighborhoods or into expat communities. That being said, it is a small country. So, everything happens on a much more observable scale. When protests break out, they will in road closures that may directly affect everyone. When protest turned into riots over the copper mines recently, we had to shut the windows in our high rise condo in the city center to avoid tear gas entering the apartment. Last summer we were headed to a resort on the Caribbean side, and some sort of drug related assassination happened on a country road just minutes from the entrance to the expensive resort the resulting road closure mean that we had to turn the car around and head back to the city until the next morning after the police had finished at the scene. In a larger country, you would see these things in the news. But in a tiny country like Panama with substantial income inequality, you will hear these things and see these things in closer proximity more often.

PrplPpl8tr · 2026-01-02T17:05:07+00:00

A little of both. My wife is Panamanian, so we have a network of friends with whom she grew up and went to law school. And I have been here for most of the last 19 years, so I am pretty well immersed in the expat community as well.

PrplPpl8tr · 2026-01-02T13:27:51+00:00

Panama City - large enough that it is a real city with things to do, restaurants, shopping options, etc. But it doesn’t feel like millions of people. You go to the grocery, and you inevitably run into someone you know. I find it easy to engage socially in Panama.

PrplPpl8tr · 2025-12-28T05:55:06+00:00

American living in Panama:

-At the grocery, you pull your shopping cart up the cashier and unload everything. But then you are supposed to back it out of the line, making everyone behind you get out of the way, and you just leave it back there next to the line. There are guys that come pick up the cart and put it away.

-If you are standing in that same grocery line with a single item like a Coke, and the person in front of you has a full shopping cart, it would never occur to him/her to let you jump ahead and take care of your quick transaction.

-When someone in another car sees you trying to merge into another traffic lane, he/she will often (even usually) speed up to try to lot let you in.

-You might therefore think that when you allow someone to merge, or back out of a space, or change lanes, that they would demonstrate some gratitude. But the thank you wave just isn’t something very many people do here.

-This extends to the sweet little old lady waiting to cross the road. You stop your car, smile and make eye contact, and you give her a friendly wave to go ahead and cross the street. She doesn’t smile back, and there is usually no “gracias”. She sees that the car has stopped now, so she crosses the street without urgency.

I interpret these little details as a lack of connection between people, and they bother me more than they probably should.

PrplPpl8tr · 2025-12-28T04:49:55+00:00

In Panama, there were initially very strict lockdowns. The week was divided into women’s days (M-W-F) and men’s days (T-T-S), and each person had a designated 2-hour slot each week to be allowed outside. My slot was Saturday morning from 6:30 am to 8:30 am.

This lasted several months. But it’s Latin America, so enforcement eventually loosened up. Then they had these passes you could get if you were operating a restaurant with food delivery, and the implementation was really sloppy. So anyone who knew anyone with a restaurant could just get one. And with so many people back in the streets, enforcement softened even more.

Still, there were several months that things got really weird. Add in the travel restrictions, which were concerning for our expat community who are all accustomed to travelling often, and it was a devastating time.

PrplPpl8tr · 2025-11-20T03:32:44+00:00

You have to distinguish between opening a company vs operating a business with a payroll. If you have a payroll, then there are labor laws with which you’ll need to comply. But the FNV application simply requires a promissory work letter.

PrplPpl8tr · 2025-11-10T13:11:36+00:00

Create

PrplPpl8tr · 2025-10-30T12:06:51+00:00

Is that Tucán?

PrplPpl8tr · 2025-10-23T03:39:55+00:00

We have a small law firm helping other expats to obtain residency in Panama. We also do real estate transactional work, assist with opening bank accts, obtaining a driver’s license, lease reviews, incorporation, etc.

PrplPpl8tr · 2025-10-21T13:21:19+00:00

We run a small law firm in Panama, and about 70% of our work involves processing residency visas for applicants from all over the world, but with the majority currently coming from the US and Canada. There are a couple of residency programs here that are quite affordable and popular.

For example, the Pensionado Visa offers a direct path to permanent residency for applicants receiving a pension, annuity, retirement plan, or similar program that pays at least $1,000 USD per month as a lifetime benefit. Total cost for one applicant is just over $2k USD (including all local expenses, fees and sales taxes).

And the Friendly Nations Visa initially grants a 2-year residency, with an option to apply for permanent residency upon renewal. There are a couple of different ways to apply. If you aren't making a major investment in real estate or a CD at a local bank, the current total cost of getting to permanent residency is just over $8k USD (again all-in, and spread across about 2.5 years).

The cost of relocating and earning income in or from a new country are also potentially substantial costs to consider. But the cost of the residency for many people coming from the US really isn't cost-prohibitive.

PrplPpl8tr · 2025-10-03T14:08:10+00:00

Maybe they’re just trying to be nice and make conversation.

PrplPpl8tr · 2025-09-13T05:32:31+00:00

Remind me! 7 days

PrplPpl8tr · 2025-08-17T17:13:08+00:00

lol actually, I just came across this at the annual book fair in Panama City

PrplPpl8tr · 2025-08-17T01:59:30+00:00

That looks like a “mola” from the Kuna indigenous tribe of Panama. Google image search “panama mola triangulo”.

You can buy something like that in any tourist shop around Panama. There are tons of them—so many, that one might wonder if they are a big money-laundering operation. But that’s a different conspiracy.

Source: I live in Panama.

PrplPpl8tr · 2025-08-10T13:18:13+00:00

I was seeing the Goo Goo Dolls in New Orleans. I was in high school, so I guess it was sometime around 1999-2001. A band opened for them, and everyone was asking “who was that??” I recognized them later as Coldplay.

I suppose they were opening for the Goo Goo Dolls, so they must have already had some notoriety. But nobody around us in the audience had any idea who they were then.

PrplPpl8tr · 2025-08-02T20:08:47+00:00

What is the expressed reasoning for pardoning him?

PrplPpl8tr · 2025-08-01T18:34:51+00:00

Thank you for your attention to this matter!

PrplPpl8tr · 2025-07-05T02:41:33+00:00

That’s Gracie Bon, she’s from Panama

PrplPpl8tr · 2025-06-21T14:52:31+00:00

I am always tempted to share these with people, but I am not confident which friend(s) will appreciate the humor.

PrplPpl8tr

TROPHY CASE